Everyone who cooks need to save on electricity cost in the kitchen. Here are a few excellent energy saving tips you can practice in the kitchen.
Do not peek!
Avoid opening the oven door and lifting pot lids to prevent heat from escaping. Peaking through the opened oven door even once causes 20 percent of the heat to come out. Instead, check the timer and oven window for this purpose.
Matching Pots
Use pots and pans with tightly fitting covers and flat bottoms that match the size of the burner.
Getting Free Heat
Switch off the oven and rangetop burners a few
Efficient cookware
If possible, choose to use the rangetop instead of the oven. Crockpots, pressure cookers, and steamers are not only generally more efficient bust also help keep the food's nutritional value better than rangetop pans or the oven. To heat smaller meals, an oven toaster uses up just half as much electricity as compared to a full-size oven.
Preheating
Do away with preheating the oven or broiler, unless you're making baked goods that demand accurate starting temperatures.
Cook in Groups
Take advantage of the oven heat to the fullest by choosing foods that bake at similar time and temperature. If one dish calls for 325°F, the other for 350°F, and the third for 375°F, set the oven for 350°F and adjust their specific baking times to compensate.
Unclog Gas Ports
If you use a gas range, keep the burners unclogged and clean. The flame should be blue in color and cone-like; a yellowish flame
Clean Reflectors
Maintain clear reflectors under burners. It will save you money on electricity fees by reflecting heat where it's needed.
Use of Self-Cleaning Smartly
If you are to use the self-cleaning cycle, do so sparingly. Start it immediately after baking while the oven is hot.
On Using Aluminum Foil
Do not position aluminum foil on the bottom of the oven. It may block vent-holes and inhibit heat circulation, reducing oven temperatures about as much as 50 degrees.
Microwaves Can Help Cut Costs
Microwave ovens save both time and money. Research shows that for eighty-five percent of your cooking jobs, a microwave oven could cut energy expenses by half or even more.
Microwaves are most efficient in heating small to medium-size amounts of food that are low in moisture. For example, to bake four potatoes, a microwave oven consumes sixty-five percent less energy than a regular oven. However, to boil four cups of water, a microwave oven consumes ten percent more energy than a rangetop.